In 1993, Huntington argued that many conflicts will be dominated by cultural differences. Although cultural differences are but one source of conflicts, this aspect is highlighted today by events that have impacted US policies and posture. Yet in the past decade, almost no models have emerged that can forecast patterns of behavior when cultural forces clash. Such models must consider the roles of beliefs, attitudes, and sacred values within a culture, and how they interact with institutional constraints and perceived external pressures. They must address behaviors within a culture at the levels of the individual, the group, and the governing body. The most important objective of our MURI is to bring together models of beliefs and behaviors at each of the three levels, showing how the levels interact and influence one another. To reach this objective, we have assembled the following interdisciplinary team:

Scott Atran, University of Michigan & CNRS, Anthropology

Jenna Bednar, Univ. Mich. , Political Science & Public Policy

Ken Forbus, Northwestern, Computer Science and Education

Doug Medin, Northwestern University, Psychology

Scott Page, University of Michigan , Political Science & Complexity

Avi Pfeffer, Harvard, Computer Science

Whitman Richards, MIT, Cognition and Artificial Intelligence

Barry Silverman, UPenn, ESE & CIS

Brian Stankiewicz, University of Texas Austin , Psychology

Joshua Tenenbaum, MIT, Computation and Cognitive Science

Patrick Winston, MIT, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

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Consultant
Robert Axelrod, University of Michigan , Political Science

Collaborators
Rajesh Kasturirangan, MIT, Cognititve Science

Alex (Sandy) Pentland, MIT Media Lab, Human Dynamics Research